How will INEOS have viewed Tom Pidcock’s brave move, as he rewarded both Q36.5 and himself with success?

Anyone watching the one-day races of Q36.5 Pro Cycling should perhaps first take a look at the last two seasons of the so-called WorldTour cycle. That will help you understand where the team came from, that Qhubeka NextHash's South African license expired after 2021, and that the team relaunched in 2023 under the Swiss flag with Q36.5 as its sponsor.

In 2023, the team scored 3,604 UCI points. That's not enough to pass high school, but new riders joined the team, and together they scored 8,173 points in 2024. Still not a great deal, but it was reason enough for Pidcock to dive into the project. He left INEOS Grenadiers and, with the help of the 26-year-old Brit, the team ended up with 15,175 points this year.

Part of that was achieved in one-day races. Wins in the Grand Prix Criquielion (Matteo Moschetti), Tour of Murcia (Fabio Christen), and ADAC Cyclassics (Rory Townsend). He also took second place in Nokere Koerse (Moschetti) and Strade Bianche (Pidcock) and third place in the Flèche Wallonne. Add to that his top ten finishes in the Amstel, Liège, and Lombardy...

The vast majority of the UCI points, which led Q36.5 to the top three ProTeams and guaranteed a place in the WorldTour races from 2026, came in the stage races. And it was mainly on that front that Pidcock made a big step forward. He dared to skip the cyclo-cross season so that he could be ready for the AlUla Tour at the end of January. He won two stages and the overall classification.

He won a stage in the Ruta del Sol, finished sixth in the Tirreno-Adriatico, and, despite a less-than-ideal preparation, only dropped to sixteenth place in the final days of the Giro d'Italia. Pidcock won a stage and finished second in the Arctic Race of Norway, then third in the Vuelta a España. It was his big breakthrough as a stage racer. How would INEOS have viewed that?

In addition to Pidcock's excellent results, other riders also contributed. David de la Cruz finished second in the Sibiu Cycling Tour and the Tour of Abruzzo, and Mark Donovan did the same in the Coppi e Bartali. Damien Howson finished fourth in Oman, and De la Cruz also added an eighth place in the Tirreno.

The scores for the first three teams we reviewed were not all equally high. However, Q36.5 can look back on a virtually perfect 2025. Could the team have done even better? With the material available, they got the most out of it, so we can't help but give them high marks. The editorial team's final score was 8.0.

We began this story with the relaunch of Q36.5 in 2023, with a selection that earned just over 3,000 UCI points. That was quintupled in 2025, but with starting rights in all WorldTour races, the team cannot continue to rely solely on Pidcock. And it will have to score even more points if it ever wants to qualify for a WorldTour license.

With that in mind, the team entered the market and came up with a whole bunch of interesting names. Think of the Belgians Aimé De Gendt, Xandro Meurisse, Brent Van Moer, and Quinten Hermans, all four of whom can be deployed in one-day and stage races. With the British riders Thomas Gloag and Fred Wright, the Irishman Eddie Dunbar, and the Australian Chris Harper, a lot of power was added in the mountains.

Emmanuel Houcou is the young talent who was picked up from the defunct Arkéa-B&B Hotels team. But with all these reinforcements, a few had to go. Because the 2025 selection included 27 riders and the 2026 selection 29, we see slightly fewer departures. Gianluca Brambilla and Giacomo Nizzolo are ending their careers, while the future of Jannik Steime and Townsend is still unknown.

Transfers in: Aimé De Gendt, Eddie Dunbar, Thomas Gloag, Chris Harper, Quinten Hermans, Emmanuel Houcou, Xandro Meurisse, Brent Van Moer, Fred Wright

Transfers out: Enekoitz Azparren, Gianluca Brambilla, Giacomo Nizzolo, Jannik Steimle, Rory Townsend

In fact, almost all of Q36.5's incoming transfers are interesting, but the climbing core around Pidcock in particular has been given a major update. With Gloag, Dunbar, and Harper, the British rider will suddenly have a lot of support in the finals, something that has been lacking so far. And what is possible for Pidcock? The three climbers can also ride on their own.

For one-day races, we no longer have to look solely to Pidcock. Wright, Van Moer, and especially puncher Hermans have proven themselves over the years as powerhouses in the classics. At Q36.5, they will have the opportunity to really go for their own results, something that was sometimes lacking with their previous employers.

Bram van der Ploeg ( Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email : [email protected])